The Unfettered Pursuit of Happiness

January 2012

January 25, 2012

It’s the time of year when many of us turn our attention to our health. Ok, let’s be honest, by health I mean weight. Now three weeks into my resolution to lose six pounds, I’m down two. Not exactly a stellar performance, but it beats the alternative.

The startling facts are, according to the CDC, 33.9 percent of U.S. adults are obese, and another 34.4 percent are merely overweight. Which leaves those folks at healthy weights in the minority.

There is certainly no shortage of approaches to weight-loss. The multi-million dollar weight loss industry hawks thousands of books, magazines, weight-loss centers, and food substitutes. Our problem is not from lack of information, or even for lack of trying. I know very few people, even in the healthy-weight category that aren’t trying to drop at least a few pounds.

To be fair, the problem for obese people is a lot harder to tackle, it’s not just their imagination. Tara Parker-Pope’s NY Times article, The Fat Trap, explores the frustrating problem that so many people encounter of gaining back weight that they so diligently worked to lose. Turns out it’s not a problem of willpower or discipline. And it also turns out it’s not true that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.

A typical 30-year old woman who weighs 190 pounds can eat about 2,600 calories a day and maintain her weight. But the same woman who achieved that weight by losing over 10 percent of her body weight will only be able to eat about 2,300 calories per day without gaining weight. Yes, unfair!

To blame are the metabolic and hormonal changes that accompany significant weight loss. So it really is harder for someone to keep the weight off after losing it than it is for someone who never varied from that weight in the first place. To really add heft to the unfairness of it all, this effect on calorie burning may last up to six years.

Which brings me to my six-pound goal. I am not overweight by any measure of the word. But I have consistently gained a half a pound a year for the last 16 years. So I’d rather reverse that course now, before I land in the land of the metabolic catch-22. And for that, I will share a little inspiration, Michael Pollan’s, Food Rules, an Eater’s Manual.

Most of us have figured out that it’s easier to keep up a moderate exercise program consistently than a drastic, complicated, intense one. Well, it’s the same with an eating program. I don’t buy the philosophy that the more complicated it is, the more effective it is. I think we all know what to do, we just need a little reminder.

Michael Pollan’s compact book is just that, a quick reminder of what you already know. The book contains 64 rules, they read much like a series of blog posts. They revolve around the central advice, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The first section defines food. For example, food your great-grandmother would recognize as food, things with ingredients that a third-grader can pronounce, foods that aren’t pretending to be something they are not. The last two sections are on making the healthiest food choices and tips for portion control.

If you, like I, need a little inspiration to keep the resolution you’ve made year after year by following advice you already know, I recommend this short read. It’s not rocket-science, it’s just common sense, something we can all use a little of from time to time.

January 09, 2012

If you already had “enough” money to retire, would you work a full-time job for one more year if you could walk away with $500k from that year’s work?

I enjoyed reading all of your comments and email responses to Friday’s half-million dollar question. As some of you pointed out, it’s obviously hard to know how you would answer a hypothetical question with so many possible variables and without really having “skin in the game.” My initial reaction is why not try it? If you hated it you could always quit. But that’s not really participating in the discussion in the spirit in which the question was asked.

Money

It’s clear that the price-point is different for different people. A couple of you wouldn’t do it for $500k but would for a million. I imagine others would do it for less than half a million. A few of you are ready to start tomorrow.

Money is relative, absolute numbers don’t usually work across the board for these kinds of discussions. My guess is there is some price point where everyone would say yes, what if I said $10 million? Because really the question boils down to how valuable your time is to you, how much money would you need in order to to commit to giving up that valuable resource, time, to an employer?

And if you already had “enough,” what would you do with “more?”

Time

As many of you mentioned, your time is more valuable to you than the money. You have kids or other family members you want to spend time with. You have travel dreams. Or you prefer to spend your time volunteering for something you feel a calling toward. It’s hard to imagine giving up that time for money when you might be giving up the opportunity to participate in that particular experience all together.

Happiness and the Vicious Cycle

I got an email from someone who said they would do it if it was something they were good at, “A year of failure isn’t worth any amount of money.” A few would do it for the peace of mind that the extra monetary cushion would provide.

In another email, Cindi’s comment hit home to me: “The problem is, it's easy to say you'll do it for only one year, but then when the year is up, it's the same exact question again, and if you were willing once then you're willing to do it again. Meanwhile if it's not what you wanted to be doing with your life, you're life is slipping by.”

The truth is, I am a sucker for appreciation. I imagine if someone were offering me that kind of money, I would feel like they really wanted me and therefore really appreciated me. I would likely be so flattered by the attention that I would probably do it. But that doesn’t mean that I think that would be the right thing for me to do.

I think I would regret it. Because it probably isn’t what I’d want to be doing with my life and I would be letting life slip by, even if it was only just a year of it.

January 06, 2012

Photo Friday On procrastination: I've been thinking of many blog posts over this last silent month but getting none of them on (virtual) paper. Sorry about that. On brain teasers: The reason is because of what we bean-counters (even part-time bean-counters) call Busy Season. I'm only somewhat embarrassed to admit how much fun I've been having using the left side of my brain these last few weeks. When a part-time job demands full time, it's a lot easier to handle than when a full-time job feasts on your soul as well.

Which brings me to the next brain teaser. Yesterday I received a great question from a reader, Craig. He asked, "Although you already have "Enough," if you could work for exactly one year starting tomorrow, and make $500k after tax (working full-time but without killing yourself), would you do it?

The truth is I haven't figured out the answer to that one yet, but I'd love to get your answers to get the conversation started. Especially those of you that are retired or are not yet retired but hate your jobs. (Obviously if you are already working in a full-time job you love, this would be a no-brainer.)

(To submit your picture of retirement, email me a photo with how you would like it credited.)